EAGER: Identifying Barriers and Opportunities for Building SocioTechnical Capital

该项目促进了对“社会技术资本”--通过使用信息和通信技术建立、维持或利用的联系--如何在不同社会经济群体和人口中发展和使用的科学理解。 据推测，像其他有价值的资源，计算机为媒介的机会，建立社会技术资本的好处是不平等的社会分配。 例如，在为高薪专业人士（如LinkedIn）构建社交网络工具和在线市场方面，似乎比为勤杂工或日工做的工作要多得多。 以及低技能、低承诺工作的在线劳动力市场（如亚马逊土耳其机器人）似乎并没有提供一条通往建立社会技术资本的道路，这可能会导致更稳定，更高工资的工作。本项目旨在了解定制社交网络工具和在线劳动力市场的技术以满足特定社会经济人群的需求的前景，如底特律的人口，密歇根州和其他城市的经济衰退。 该项目将遵循以人为本的方法进行情境调查，进行访谈和焦点小组采用了一系列的“设计探针”。 这些探测器将检查目前支持就业过程的技术（如LinkedIn，CareerBuilder，ODesk，TaskRabbit和Angie's List），以确定使用的基本障碍，并为可能特别有用的功能产生想法。 在以后的会议中，设计探测器将包括体现在早期会议中生成的功能的低保真度原型。 最终结果将是阐明利用技术帮助经济脆弱社区的人们建立、维持和使用社会资本以开始在经济阶梯上向上移动的特殊需求、障碍和机会。 该项目将研究信息和通信技术如何帮助在特定经济社区内的个人与能够在这些社区外提供就业机会的人之间建立和维持社会和经济桥梁。更广泛的影响：该项目将通过提供信息，为受经济衰退影响最严重的社区开辟向上流动的途径，从而产生广泛的社会影响。 如果研究发现了使用社交网络工具和在线劳动力市场的有希望的机会和可克服的障碍，它将为未来技术和计算机介导方法的设计提供信息，以帮助这些人群更好地繁荣。 如果研究发现机会有限或存在不可逾越的障碍，从业人员将知道寻找其他地方帮助弱势群体找到必要的社会技术资本。

This project advances a scientific understanding of how "socio-technical capital" - ties that are created, maintained, or exploited through the use of information and communication technologies - is developed and used across different socioeconomic groups and populations. It is hypothesized that, like other valuable resources, the benefits of computer-mediated opportunities for building socio-technical capital are unequally distributed in society. For example, it appears as if far more effort has gone into building social networking tools and online markets for highly paid professionals (such as LinkedIn) than for handymen or day laborers. And online labor markets that exist for low-skill, low-commitment jobs (such as Amazon Mechanical Turk) do not appear to offer a path toward building socio-technical capital that might lead to more-stable, higher-wage jobs.This project seeks to understand the prospects of tailoring the technologies of social networking tools and online labor markets to meet the needs of specific socio-economic populations, such as populations in Detroit, Michigan, and other cities in economic decline. The project will follow a human-centered approach of contextual inquiry, conducting interviews and focus groups employing a range of "design probes". These probes will examine technologies that currently support the employment process (such as LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, ODesk, TaskRabbit, and Angie's List) as a springboard to identify fundamental barriers to usage, and also to generate ideas for features that might be especially useful. In later sessions, design probes will include low-fidelity prototypes embodying features generated in earlier sessions. The end result will be an articulation of the special needs, barriers, and opportunities for using technology to help people in economically vulnerable communities to build, maintain, and use social capital to start moving up the economic ladder. The project will investigate how information and communication technology can help to create and maintain of social and economic bridges between individuals within specific economic communities and people who can provide access to employment opportunities outside of those communities.Broader Impacts: The project will have broad social impact by informing approaches to cultivating pathways to upward mobility in communities hit hardest by economic decline. If the research finds promising opportunities and surmountable barriers to the use of social networking tools and online labor markets, it will inform the design of future technologies and computer-mediated approaches to help these populations better prosper. If the research finds limited opportunities or insurmountable barriers, practitioners will know to look elsewhere to help vulnerable populations find essential socio-technical capital.